Re: VITA Request: Pakistan/ Biomass briquetting

["Paul S. Anderson" <psanders@ilstu.edu>]

Dear Bajwa (and stoves and Vita readers);

Thank you for your request, and the Stoves list IS a great place to get the 
info you want.

Unofficially (because I am just one of the stoves members, without official 
standing), I offer the following summary, and I invite other stovers to 
correct me or to add more info.

1.      Biomass briquettes IS one of our significant topics.  I suggest 
that you look at the archived files at

Stoves List Archives and Website:
http://www.crest.org/discussion/stoves/current/
http://www.ikweb.com/enuff/public_html/Stoves.html

2.      An absolutely KEY person to "cultivate" is Richard Stanley and 
others at the Legacy Foundation.   They are BIG on briquettes, can provide 
some plans for making briquette presses, can be brought in as consultants 
for "hands on" training and expert advice, and they know how to convert 
(via composting) the needed quantities of ROUGH agricultural biomass into 
the fine fiber biomass that is needed to hold the briquettes together (when 
using only moderate-manual compression/compaction.)  (As far as I know, the 
rest of us doing briquette making are using recycled paper products to get 
the fine fiber pulp that helps hold together the other biomass.)   READ the 
reports from Legacy, starting at :

http://www.legacyfound.org/

3.       About the briquette presses, here are four sources to consider 
(among others):
         A.  Legacy Foundation (see above)
         B.  Me (Paul S. Anderson) and my friends in Mozambique who are 
using an EXTREMELY SIMPLE AND INEXPENSIVE single lever press.  It is more 
labor intensive and more work to use than the Legacy presses, but minimal 
costs.  I am NOT recommending it over any other press except for its 
simplicity and low cost.  It uses the same principle parts of a PVC 
cylinder with holes and a piston to press down on the wet biomass, creating 
a cylindrical briquette, either with or without a central hole.
         C.  Crispin at New Dawn Engineering in Swaziland has a more 
sophisticated press that is more mechanical.  The prototype I saw was 
for  making 9 or 16 smaller briquettes at the same time.  Fast and 
efficient.  Initial users are just getting started, but Crispin can give 
you the up-to-the-minute details.   See his website 
at   http://www.newdawn-engineering.com/   (but use Explorer, not Netscape, 
is my experience).
         D.  ELK in Kenya also makes briquettes, but mostly based on 
charcoal fines (flakes and small char 
stuff)   Visit  http://www.chardust.com/  for great information.

4.      And that brings us to the topic of the biomass itself, and the role 
of char (as in charcoal or char-flakes).  If you are going to produce or 
otherwise include char in your briquettes, please send a message to me (or 
better to the whole Stoves list) so that we can address the issues of 
chat.  Both the chardust people and Dr. AD Karve in Pune, India, are 
working on production of char from agro-bio-waste.   A LOT of assistance 
(experience) is available for you.

Finally, do you have any NGO or other agency assisting your work?
More, many more details about you and your cooperative would be helpful.
And please tell where you are actually in Pakistan (can I assume that 
central Punjab, Pakistan, is close to the Punjab state in India?)

Looking forward to your reply.

Hey Ron, I think you were 100% right to make the posting to the Stoves list 
serve.

Paul Anderson (signature block and info is at the end of this message.)

**********
At 08:46 PM 1/7/02 -0700, Ron Larson wrote:
>Dear VITA and "SMTP"  (cc stoves list)
>
>     As a VITA volunteer, I am taking the liberty of sending this request on
>to the full "stoves" list (225 members) , for which I am a coordinator.  We
>have probably a dozen members who may find a reason to respond - although
>sending drawings may not be possible.  If our archives (www.crest.org) or
>forthcoming assistance is valuable, I hope you will join us on the list and
>report your successes or failures.  Just contact me to be added - no costs.
>
>     We also have had a number of discussions on how to be helpful in
>Afghanistan - so if that offer is possible to pass on, we should like to
>hear also
>
>   Ron     (for the "stoves" list and VITA.)
>
>ps.  As it is possible, I hope stovers will keep us informed of interesting
>responses.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Vita Volunteer Manager <vv@vita.org>
>To: VITA Volunteers <vvlist@list.vita.org>
>Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 10:15 AM
>Subject: VITA Request: Pakistan/ Biomass briquetting
>
>
> > If this request for information is not in your field of experience,
> > please delete it.  No response is necessary.
> > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ambiente [SMTP:ambiente@wol.net.pk]
> > Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 6:24 AM
> > To: vita@vita.org
> > Subject: Biomass briquetting
> >
> > We are a farmer's association in central Punjab, Pakistan. Our members are
> > basically small land holders. We need assistance in briquetting farm
> > biomass waste, such as wheat chaff, rice husk, cotton stalks, etc.
> > We will appreciate if you can help us by providing technical drawing and
> > specs. of a briquetting machine, which we will get manufactured here.
> > Regards
> > Bajwa
> >
> >
> > ---
> > Request Posted: vwww.vita.org/inquiry/
> > Volunteers in Technical Assistance
> >
>
>
>-
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>
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>Elsen L. Karstad, elk@wananchi.com www.chardust.com
>
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>-
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>
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Paul S. Anderson, Ph.D.,  Fulbright Prof. to Mozambique 8/99 - 7/00
Dept of Geography - Geology (Box 4400), Illinois State University
Normal, IL  61790-4400   Voice:  309-438-7360;  FAX:  309-438-5310
E-mail: psanders@ilstu.edu - Internet items: www.ilstu.edu/~psanders


-
Stoves List Archives and Website:
http://www.crest.org/discussion/stoves/current/
http://www.ikweb.com/enuff/public_html/Stoves.html

Stoves List Moderators:
Ron Larson, ronallarson@qwest.net
Alex English, english@adan.kingston.net
Elsen L. Karstad, elk@wananchi.com www.chardust.com

List-Post: <mailto:stoves@crest.org>
List-Help: <mailto:stoves-help@crest.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:stoves-unsubscribe@crest.org>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:stoves-subscribe@crest.org>

Sponsor the Stoves List: http://www.crest.org/discuss3.html
-
Other Biomass Stoves Events and Information:
http://www.bioenergy2002.org
http://solstice.crest.org/renewables/biomass-info/
http://solstice.crest.org/renewables/biomass-info/carbon.shtml

For information about CHAMBERS STOVES
http://www.ikweb.com/enuff/public_html/Chamber.htm